Retirement

97% of active members support the merger

(Toronto: January 11, 2016) Members of The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) pension plan have overwhelmingly chosen to join the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan.

The merger is the first of its kind to use Ontario’s new regulations permitting the conversion and transfer of assets from a single-employer pension plan in the broader public sector to a jointly governed, multi-employer pension plan. The regulations came into effect November 1, 2015.

The main elements of the merger process were completed within a relatively short six months. The endorsement by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario is expected within several months.

The merger allows the ROM to exit the pension-management business and focus on its core competency of research, education, community outreach, and operating one of North America’s largest museums with over a million visitors in 2015.

Of the active ROM pension plan members, 97% voted to join the CAAT Pension Plan while no retirees or deferred members voted against the merger. The 45-day information and voting process concluded on December 21, 2015, and ROM employees began earning pension benefits in the CAAT Plan on January 1, 2016.

Under the general conditions of the merger, the 640 active, retired and deferred pension members from the ROM plan will receive a pension based on the ROM plan provisions for their service accrued to December 31, 2015, and a pension based on CAAT Plan provisions for service accrued after that date.

The ROM pension plan was operating under a temporary solvency funding exemption, which would have expired in 2017 and increased its pension contributions. Under the funding rules for single employer pension plans, ROM pension costs would have increased significantly.

As a multi-employer pension plan the CAAT Plan has a different risk profile than single employer pension plans, such as the ROM. The long-established and fully funded CAAT Plan is managed by pension experts to provide secure pension benefits.

Source: https://www.caatpension.on.ca/en/news/everyone/rom-pension-members-elect-join-caat-plan?

If you’re part of the CAAT Pension Plan, this newsletter may be of interest to you!

You’ll learn how your contributions help secure your pension and you’ll get introduced to your new Plan governors.

For most people, retirement planning is an emotional, mental, as well as logistical process. Come and hear from the experts about how to prepare yourself for this life-altering transition from employment at the college to the next chapter in your life’s journey. Representatives from our CAAT Pension Plan will be presenting a retirement planning session at our Woodroffe campus:

If you are interested in attending the Woodroffe session, please register through the COL website – space is limited. The session occurring in Woodroffe on Thursday, March 12th will be live-streamed in the morning and afternoon for those who are not able to attend in person. If you missed the sessions or if you want to review the sessions, a recorded session is available.